Keane backing Dunne for recall
Shane Duffy was a solid debutant in the centre of the Irish defence on Friday night against Costa Rica and the future looks bright for the 22-year-old.
But there’s still life in the old dog yet, according to one of Dunne’s oldest friends in the game.
“Ah yeah, 100%,” said the LA Galaxy star whose missed penalty could have seen Ireland sneak a win in this final World Cup warm-up for the Central Americans.
“Delighted for him (to be promoted). He is certainly a player who deserves to be in the Premier League. I spoke to him last week. He’s obviously buzzing. He had a tremendous game against Derby.”
And it was another reunion of sorts in the starting line-up for Keane who enjoyed a solid enough partnership with goalscorer Kevin Doyle.
“Yeah he was looking sharp and had a great header (for the goal). He looked good.”
Keane said he missed the challenge that led to a bloodied Doyle and the dismissal of Giancarlo Gonzalez. He admitted to being confused by the referee’s unorthodox change of heart.
“I saw (the ref) show a yellow then a red. I wasn’t too sure whether it was a mistake.”
He did however admit that the Irish effort petered after the break as the Costa Ricans with more at stake and down to ten men, showed a little more energy despite their numerical disadvantage.
“I thought the first half was good, we certainly played well. It was a hectic friendly. You could see every (opposing) player wanted it. They certainly push you. You could see that in a few challenges. ”I had a chat with their captain before the game and I said to him, ‘just be clever’ because we’ve seen a few bad injuries in friendlies. Nobody wants to see a player miss the World Cup. But it ended up going the other way.”
As for his missed penalty, just his second lapse in the green of Ireland, Keane was philosophical.
“Of course you want to score. There’s no question that you want to score in every game. A penalty against goalkeepers is a 50/50 chance. He saved it … that’s the way it goes.”
